On a recent visit I was lucky enough to be shown around this beautiful mountain temple by the buddhist abbott, while I was studying temple typologies for another project in the same province.
Author: Ulysses
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Istanbul | City Of Islands
I was invited to sit in as a panelist on a session at the festival by Marisol Garcia, from UCL at the Eleanor Marx-Aveling Galleries. The discussion was on the contemporary influences, forces, processes and outcomes of urban transformation in Istanbul, centred around the case of Kartal, where an international design competition has been won by Zaha Hadid Architects to transform a post-industrial neighbourhood into a new CBD for Istanbul (‘the CBD’ being the broad theme for this year’s festival).
Following a well researched presentation by the students, the discussion moved onto the possibilities that may exist somewhere in between practice and research to influnce urban change towards more inclusive futures. It was interesting to note both the depth of research and the attempt to implement methodologies for bottom up drivers within processes of urban transformation. The session proved to be too short for the discussion to progress to combining bottom up approaches and inputs with the top down policies and debates. It will be interesting to see if parallel tools will be proposed.
For further information on the context of the session, a web article by UCL’s MSc Building and Urban Design in Development (BUDD) is linked here
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/courses/masters/msc_building/Fieldwork/Istanbulreport2010lowresBlog by MSc Building and Urban Design in Development course at UCL (within Development Planning Unit)
http://www.abitare.it/highlights/city-of-islands-istanbul-at-a-crossroads/Festival Website
http://thisisnotagateway.squarespace.com/2010-programme/ -
Colourful Tehran | Benetton competition
A preliminary image of the interior proposed for the new Benetton shop in Tehran. we enjoyed the literal, obvious and yet playful games that could be acheived using colour as a central focus, with additional layers and spaces between layers re-interpreted in an attempt to organise public spaces within, below and through the building making it not just a recognisable entity in the city but also usable urban space(s) outwith commercial hours.
Team:
Ulysses Sengupta
Deljana Iossifova
Laszlo Fecske (BAND)Â ( http://www.b-a-n-d.net/ )
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Playing with Translucency | Historic Project Excerpts
Experiments in transparency and translucency, using layers of the facade to merge with and hint at the functions and movements within the building. This is an ongoing interest for the practice with the subtleties of exterior and interior relationships being explored in ways that are about both ambiguity and connection. With the ongoing interest in facade manipulation in Architecture, we believe that the envelope continues to be about both mediation and communication, with the decorative possibilities acheived as a result of these explorations.Built Project:
New low energy slab cooled reception and registry buildings (clashing into and in symbiotic relationship with the back of an existing 60’s courtyard block originally designed for this purpose) designed and completed for the University of Kent at Canterbury while Ulysses Sengupta was Project Architect at Cornish Architects in London. Â
Please use the link below to contact Cornish Architects directly:
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Flux Territories | Ganz Feld Verwand Lung
Ganz_Feld_Verwand-Lung (Flux Territories – The beginning 01) from softgrid_limited on Vimeo.
An exceptional piece of work by Robert Buehler as part of his final undergraduate year at The University of Nottingham, Department of Architecture & Built Environment. (B.Arch)
The project involved the merging of virtual (animated), real (filmed) and found (film) material to explore ideas of cities as territories in constant change. It was the beginning of our explorations into emergent systems, parametric urban design and the relationship between identity, memory & urban patterns.
Student: Robert Buehler
Studio Leader: Ulysses Sengupta
More Detail: www.designunit6.com
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Money – Worldmapper Edition
We thought this was both informative and entertaining!
All credit to SASI Group at The University of Sheffield for this clever take on cartography. This particular collection was shown as a presentation by Professor Danny Dorling called 「Changing perspectives: mapping global injustice by changing the view?〠at the ‘Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art’ Exhibition (British Library)